HMS Defiance: Devonport's Submarine Base

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O'Byrne, William Richard (1898), "Spratt, James", in Lee, Sidney (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, vol.53, London: Smith, Elder & Co, p.424

After serving as a prison ship at Chatham from 1813, she was broken up in 1817. [1] Captains [ edit ] The decision was made to bring them out into the light and airy spaces of the Box. “As we worked with the architects on the layout of the new building, we began to realise the potential of the atrium,” said Coombs. “The space is triple-height and filled with light, and this gave us the idea of positioning the figureheads up high, as though they were still on the prows of a flotilla of great ships.” Lambert, Andrew Battleships in Transition, the Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860, Conway Maritime Press, 1984. ISBN 0-85177-315-X

She was commissioned by Lt M.T. Hewitt for Captain George Keppel. He sailed her with the Channel Fleet during September and October 1796 at which time it was reported that, TUI Bird – Regarding the Electrical Branch’s early days - I assume that the original source branch identifier badge was the four diagonally opposed lightning flashes [with a central letter ‘L’ for Electrical and ‘R’ for Radio Electrical.

Just then, the French fleet sallies out from port, and a French fireship is sighted heading straight for the British flagship. As the only ship under sail, the Defiant has the unique opportunity to save the flagship. Once again, Crawford appeals to the crew's patriotism, making no promises but convincing them to intercept the fireship. Vizard is killed in the ensuing action, living just long enough to hear a message from the British admiral thanking Defiant for their honourable actions. The mutiny is over and HMS Defiant joins the fleet. Just a note to thank you very much for your excellent service. We will certainly not hesitate to recommend you to other friends and relatives. Adkins, Roy (2011), Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle, Little, Brown Book Group, p. 88, ISBN 978-1-4055-1344-9 She was sold on 26 June 1931 to Castle's Shipbreaking Yard for dismantling at Millbay, Plymouth. [9] Doige's Annual for 1932 poignantly describes her as "the last of England's 'Wooden Walls'". We collaborated with structural engineers to develop a system of mounts and suspension points that were fixed directly into the atrium ceiling. Meanwhile, the conservation team assessed the figureheads for structural integrity and began a programme to stabilise them and fit them with the internal and external supports we needed to put them in position.”William IV is too hefty to be hung from the ceiling of the Box and has instead been given a prominent position at ground level. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

So to repeat , if anybody knows if and when Electrician's Mates became Electrical Mechanics I would be most grateful . Prior to the commissioning of H.M.S. Defiance in December 1884 for service as the Royal Navy’s Devonport Torpedo School, (The Navy’s first torpedo school had been set up on HMS Vernon at Portsmouth in 1876) only a limited amount of instruction had been given in torpedo warfare at Devonport by a Torpedo Lieutenant on board the Perseus, which was at that time attached to Cambridge, the Gunnery School of those days. Defiance was a 46-gun galleon built in 1590. She was rebuilt and reduced to 34 guns in 1614 and was sold in 1650.

In 1948 I joined the RN Electrical Branch from civvy street via HMS ROYAL ARTHUR then the Electrical School HMS DEFIANCE ,Devonport . I did the Course and became an Electricians Mate 2nd class , then a draft to HMS HOWE where I became an EM 1st class mainly doing telephone system maintenance . Then Submarines >>> until 1955 . My own discharge papers leave no doubt. H.M.S. Defiant (released as Damn the Defiant! in the United States [2]) is a British naval war CinemaScope and Technicolor film from 1962 starring Alec Guinness and Dirk Bogarde. It tells the story of a mutiny aboard the fictitious title ship at around the time of the Spithead mutiny in 1797. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert with a screenplay by Nigel Kneale from Frank Tilsley's novel Mutiny (1958). [3] The film's world premiere occurred at the Odeon Leicester Square in London's West End on 22 February 1962. [4] Plot [ edit ] Parker made the signal to discontinue the action, which Nelson would not see, Rear-Admiral Graves in the Defiance repeated the signal at the lee maintopsail yardarm, from whence it could not be seen on board the Elephant. The Defiance continued firing until 3h. 15m. p.m., when the action ceased; and her spring being cut and sail made, she dropped out of the station she had occupied. Shortly afterwards, the Defiance grounded, and was with difficulty hove off, after starting thirty butts of water. During the action the ship was frequently set on fire by the hot 42-pound shot fired from the batteries, and her damages were consequently serious. Her loss in killed and wounded was as follows Lieutenant George Gray*, Matthew Cobb, pilot, 17 seamen, 3 marines, and 2 soldiers, killed; and the boatswain Lewis Patterson, James Galloway, Midshipman, Harry Niblett, Captain's Clerk, — Stephenson, pilot, 35 seamen, 5 marines, and 7 soldiers, wounded: total, 24 killed, and 51 wounded. Finnisterre and Trafalgar [ edit ] As a 1960 vintage Junior Radio Electrical Mechanic I was sometimes made aware by certain elders of other (ahem lesser) branches that us ‘Mechanics’ were merely jumped up ‘Mates’ but I cannot help you with the change dates. I’d suggest that such changes would have been promulgated in an appropriate AFO around that time (and those were often notorious for being incorrectly indexed.)

A special railway station to serve personnel travelling to and from the school, known as " Defiance Platform", was situated just west of Saltash railway station from 1905 until 1930.

13 Commissioned Officers

At the Gosport Memorial inauguration service we heard heart warming testimonies from some widows and dependents of the long-term support they had received from the large public fund (initiated IIRC by the Daily Mirror) following the disaster, especially so in those years of austerity. Plus their sincere gratitude that these Memorials now perpetuate their lost loved ones English ship Defiance (1590) was a 46-gun galleon built in 1590. She was rebuilt and reduced to 34 guns in 1614 and was sold in 1650.